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Category – Opinion

The flip side of sporting success

Over the last week, I have been marvelling at the stupendous feats of some of the athletes at the Paris Olympics. Among them, the jaw-dropping acrobatics of the American gymnast Simone Biles, the smashing of the 100m freestyle world record by the Chinese swimming sensation Pan Zhanle, who powered to victory by the unheard-of margin of a body length, and the casual brilliance of the 51-year old Turkish air-pistol specialist Yusuf Dikec, who won the silver medal, nonchalantly shooting in a T shirt, wearing his normal glasses and with one hand in his pocket.